About us

Our story began with a book...

Like any book-baby it needed an audience (and a publisher), so we challenged ourselves to became publishers and connect with ours. Haunui Press is now a well-established boutique (a.k.a garage!) publishing house, based in the heart of the windswept beauty of the Manawatū, New Zealand.

Our passion is anything that captures the eye and the imagination and strives to be different. We like different.

Our name

Our name, Haunui Press connects us to those who have gone before, the first people of the land where we now live and work.

​A simple translation is ‘Big Wind’, a passing nod to the westerly that caresses our raw west-coast location. It can also mean ‘Big Ideas’, something writers and photographers tend to chuck about over endless coffees. But more importantly, it credits the Rangitāne ancestor Haunui-a-Nanaia who, on a journey in ancient times, named the landscape elements we live by today.

Our logo

Our logo is a reflection of Hau. Derived from an original artwork by our good friend, Rangitāne artist and master carverWarren Warbrick, it depicts Hau as a manaia (a spiritual guardian, half man and half bird). A traveller, a messenger that translates between worlds – a little like the role of a publisher.

Our authors

Our growing posse of authors all have a strong connection to our place. We ONLY publish stories that are conceived in the wider Manawatū region (refer to our Submission Guidelines).